


A Beautiful Wedding

by sylviaviridian



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Angst, Arranged Marriage, Brother-Sister Relationships, Family Dynamics, Gen, Predestination, Religious Discussion, this was almost a songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 12:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11920581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylviaviridian/pseuds/sylviaviridian
Summary: Jade Curtiss hates going home, but his sister is getting married to a man she barely knows, and someone should be at her side for it.





	A Beautiful Wedding

Jade Curtiss stared out the window of the chapel where his sister's wedding would shortly take place. The sky was overcast, a dull and unrelenting white-grey color which cast all the landscape in a dismal, cold light and held no promise of change: neither the warmth of sunlight nor the soft romance of snowfall. Had Jade been a superstitious person, he might have considered it an omen for times to come. 

Fortunately, in the modern age they had better ways of telling the future. He turned aside to make his way into the next room and check on Nephry, when he heard some murmuring in the hallway, the tone low and secretive. Intrigued, he moved toward the other door instead; it stood half-ajar, and gave him a clear view of one of the bridesmaids leaning inappropriately close to one of the viscount’s servants. Preoccupied with one another, they took no notice of his appearance in the doorway.

“It really is lovely,” the bridesmaid simpered, smoothing her hands down the lace-patterned skirt of her dress. “So elegant and classic...only the best for the viscount and his new bride, right?”

“Oh, certainly,” the servant agreed in the same tone, a wicked glint in his eye as he laid out hor d’oeuvres on a platter in preparation for the reception. “I’m sure she’s pleased with it, too. I mean, it’s not as fine as a wedding to an Emperor, but it’s certainly much better than any commoner ought to expect out of life.”

Jade felt his muscles tensing in anger more than he felt the anger itself. A sharp, bitter smile fixed itself on his face: his sister was being framed as a gold-digger, was she? It wasn’t totally unexpected, but these people who didn’t know the situation at all had no right to comment on it. He cleared his throat sharply, startling the pair of gossips out of their giggling.

“S-si- ah- Major Curtiss!” the servant cried in alarm. “I didn’t...see you there!” The bridesmaid only flushed, embarrassed, her rising color visible even through the heavy makeup she wore.

Jade said nothing at all to either of them, just staring into their eyes with his politely fixed smile as he slowly and firmly closed the door between them. Only after they could no longer see him did he take a moment to lean his forehead against the frame, counting to ten so that he could conceal any trace of this mood from his sister. She didn’t need any more reasons to be upset today.

Once he was sure his emotional state had returned to neutral, he continued across the room and slipped through the far door, being sure to close it behind him before he looked over to where Nephry was adjusting her veil in the mirror.

She was beautiful, he realized, a little startled to notice it: of course, he had never thought of his sister as unattractive, but...he was suddenly, keenly feeling the weight of the long years they’d spent out of contact with one another. Nephry had been only a child when he’d left Keterburg; it had been years before he’d even been inclined to visit, and even then his stays were short and infrequent. Somewhere in that time, it seemed that he’d missed the transformation of his little sister growing into a lovely young woman.

Today, her long hair was elegantly styled, pulled up into an arrangement which must have taken dozens of pins or actual second fonon manipulation to hold in place - Jade recalled her mentioning that she’d considered wearing it down, but apparently it made them look unnervingly alike, and the last thing any woman wanted was to look like her older brother at her own wedding. The long white dress she wore glittered with intricate accents on the bodice and skirt, tastefully flattering her figure without exposing much skin; the long lace sleeves had been added by the dressmaker in a concession to Keterburg’s climate. She smiled warmly at Jade when she saw him, though a hint of sadness lingered in her eyes. “How do I look?” she asked him, pulling away from the dresser with the mirror and turning in a full circle so he could see her from every angle.

“You look like you’re going to a wedding,” he replied airily, refusing to submit to the pervasive tension in the air. “Which is fortunate, as I understand there is to be one today.”

To her credit, Nephry giggled slightly at what even Jade had to admit was a half-hearted attempt at a joke. “...Thank you for coming,” she replied. “I admit, I didn’t expect...well, I know how much you don’t like coming home. And with...everything the way it is...” A little regret had crept into her tone, and she looked away, toward the window with its bleak grey-white landscape outside.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he assured her, his voice a little softer than he’d intended it to be, and he meant it. It was true that he didn’t like returning to Keterburg. It had hardly changed since he was a child, which meant every building, every landscape had a memory attached to it - memories now filled with painful, sickening regret. There were days when he would rather sit in his room at the inn, with the curtains shut and a bottle of their best wine, and just forget...

But this was his sister’s wedding, and that meant something to him that he couldn’t seem to define or explain to himself. Nephry had, in a way, come to represent the last untouched vestige of their childhood together, a childhood which had, for the most part, been relatively happy until the memories of it were tainted by tragedy. And now, facing a wedding to a man she didn’t love, with an audience inclined toward commentary like Jade had overheard in the hallway, Nephry deserved to have someone standing at her side who was truly, genuinely, entirely on her side. Leaving her to face this pain by herself would be unconscionable.

Strangely, when she turned back to him and smiled again, she didn’t seem as if she was suffering as deeply as he’d assumed. “You know...I’ve been thinking about it, about everything that’s happened over this last year or so. Maybe it’s for the best.” When he raised a questioning eyebrow at her, she continued, “That is...maybe Yulia knew I wouldn’t make a good Empress. I probably would have been really unhappy, living at court in Grand Chokmah. I’ve read both of your letters about what it’s like...I always wondered, even before the Score told me otherwise, if I’d be strong enough to handle it when I moved out there. Now...in some ways, it’s a relief that I get to stay here, in the home I’ve always known. And Viscount Osborne is a good man, very charming. I’m sure...yes, I’m sure this will be for the best. After all, that’s what the Score is for, isn’t it? To guide us all on the best path to happiness and prosperity...”

She was being brave, he realized, seeing the fear and uncertainty in her eyes despite the clarity in her voice. She wasn’t truly sure, but she’d convinced herself that the Score knew what was best better than they could, clinging to her faith to support her through this difficult time in her life. And now she wanted him to reaffirm it for her, reassure her that everything would turn out for the best.

Jade wondered what it must be like, to be able to believe in something so thoroughly. It seemed very comforting, the idea that Yulia and Lorelei had composed the Score to bring the best possible future to each and every individual person. For a moment, he truly wished he could believe that, as well, but he knew better: even assuming the Score was the perfect prophecy the Order of Lorelei claimed it was (an assertion which Jade sometimes doubted, in the safety of his own mind where no one could call him a heretic for questioning what everyone took to be immutable fact), surely it held a broader purpose, was geared to bring the greatest good to the greatest number, even if some individuals’ happiness had to be sacrificed along the way.

Jade had a sinking feeling that the ultimate happiness of his sister and his best friend had been sacrificed for the good of Malkuth as a whole.

But in response to his sister’s question, he only smiled, as warmly as he could manage. She was asking him for support, and wasn’t he here to give her exactly that? “Perhaps you’re right,” he replied. “With our limited perspective, we can only see a small piece of anything. It’s always possible that there’s a greater good waiting just around the corner.”

Nephry’s forehead crinkled in concern, most likely skeptical of this uncharacteristic bout of optimism from her cynical older brother, and Jade realized he’d overdone it. But he wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences, at least: organ music was audibly beginning from the room where the guests waited, already seated. They were out of time.

He stretched out his hand to her, still smiling. “It looks like it’s time to take our place.” With a grateful smile in return, Nephry took his arm, and Jade led her from the room, preparing to give his sister away in marriage to a man he’d barely met.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago and posted it to my tumblr, but I just realized it wasn't up on my account here. So, here it is.
> 
> For those who caught it: I'm not sorry for the music reference.
> 
> Someday, if I ever get inspired for it, there might be a sequel/second chapter for Peony and Nephry. I waffle a lot on whether that would actually be good for either of them.


End file.
